Re-discovering Perennial Vegetables

Perennial vegetables, perennial, vegetable gardening, garden, good King Henry grow well in shady areas, but nearly every part of the plant is edible. The leaves can be steamed or braised and eaten like spinach, you can steam the shoots and use them like asparagus, the flower buds are similar to broccoli in both flavor and use, and you can even use its seeds like an edible grain—it’s a member of the amaranth family.

Good King Henry is also known as 'poor man's asparagus', the plant produces edible shoots and spinach-like leaves. Pretty much all of the plant can be eaten. Click the picture to find out more at www.naturalhomes.org

Good King Henry isn't common but easy to introduce to waste land where it self-seeds, this vigorous spinach family plant produces masses of edible flower shoots from April onwards, providing it is harvested regularly. Steamed lightly and buttered, it makes a useful and unusual ‘hungry gap’ vegetable.